List of Advanced Vocabulary for IELTS
- Ingrained: (adj.) fixed firmly and deeply into the surface or inside.
He has a deeply ingrained dislike of small children.
- Scramble: (v) to move quickly, especially with difficulty, using your hands to help you;
She managed to scramble over the wall.
- Hordes: (n) large moving crowds especially those which are noisy or disorderly.
Hordes of children were running round the building.
- Itemize: (v) to produce a detailed list of things.
The report itemizes 23 different faults.
- Laconic: (adj.) using very few words to express what you mean.
He has a laconic way of speaking.
- Malice: (n) the wish, desire or intention to harm someone.
He got no advantage out of it; he did it from pure malice.
- Nonplus: (v) to cause someone to be surprised and not know what to think or do.
The speaker seemed completely nonplussed by my question.
- Proclivity: (n) propensity.
The opposition leader criticized the government’s proclivity for (towards) spending money.
- Marauding: (adj.) moving around in search of something to steal, bum or destroy.
They were attacked by marauding tribesmen.
- Ingenuous: (adj.) simple, direct, and inexperienced; naive.
Only the most ingenuous person would believe such a feeble excuse.
- Gross, (adj.) Clearly wrong; inexcusable.
The court found the doctor guilty of gross negligence.
- Beholden: (adj) having to feel grateful or having a duty (to).
I like to do things for myself and not feel beholden to anyone else,
- Ineffable: (adj.) too wonderful to be described.
It was an ineffable display of fireworks.
- Morose: (adj.) miserable; bad tempered; not willing to talk.
She was morose, pale, and reticent.
- Cleavage: (n) a break caused by splitting.
There is a sharp cleavage in our society between the rich and the poor.
- Compatible: (adj.) able to exist together, live together or with another thing.
Their marriage ended because they were simply not compatible.
- Malleable: (adj.) soft and easily made into different shapes.
She is young enough to be malleable.
- Dynamics: (n. pi) the way in which people or things behave and react to each other in a particular situation.
He is sadly unaware of the dynamics of political change.
- Ordeal: (n) a difficult or painful experience.
The parents went through a terrible ordeal when their child was kidnapped.
- Ordeal: (n) a difficult or painful experience.
The parents went through a terrible ordeal when their child was kidnapped.
- Straightjacket: (n) something which prevents free development; also spelled as “straitjacket”.
Film producers protested against the straightjacket of censorship.
- Reflex: (n) an unintentional movement that is made in reply to some outside influence.
The doctor hit my knee with a hammer to test my reflexes.
- Kudos: (n) public admiration and glory for something done.
He gained a lot of kudos by winning the essay competition.
- Antithesis: (n) the direct opposite.
The antithesis of life is death.
- Dither: (v) to behave nervously and uncertainly because one cannot decide.
For God’s sake stop dithering and make up your mind.
- Grievous: (adj.) very seriously harmful.
You have made a grievous mistake, which could affect the rest of your life.
- Hinge: (v) to depend on; have as a necessary condition.
The film’s plot hinges on a case of mistaken identity.
- Circumscribe: (v) to keep within narrow limits
His activities have been seriously circumscribed since his illness.
- Lax: (adj.) careless.
Lax security allowed the thieves to enter.
- Brazen: (adj.) without shame; immodest.
That he has been dismissed is a brazen lie.
- Obtuse: (adj.) annoyingly slow in understanding.
Is he stupid or is he being deliberately obtuse?
- Nemesis: (n) punishment or defeat that is deserved and cannot be avoided.
His delinquent son proved to be his nemesis.
- Meticulous: (adj.) fastidious; thorough.
He is always meticulous in keeping the records up-to-date.
- Ignominious: (adj.) bringing or deserving strong (especially public) disapproval damaging to one’s pride.
He had to suffer an ignominious defeat.
- Psychosis: (n) Psychosis: (n) a serious mental illness that affects the whole personality.
A person suffering from psychosis loses touch with reality.
- Legion: (adj.) very many.
Her admirers are legion.
- Malice: (n) the wish, desire or intention to harm someone.
He got no advantage out of it; he did it from pure malice.
- Detonate: (v) to (cause to) explode using special apparatus.
They detonated the bomb and destroyed the bridge.
- futile: (adj.) useless; unsuccessful.
Don’t waste time by asking futile questions.
- Neurosis: (n) anxiety.
Her neurosis is telling upon her health.
- Largesse: (n) [something given in] generosity to people who do not have enough.
Our people are in no need of richer nations largesse.
- Proliferation: (n) a rapid increase or spreading.
The proliferation of nuclear weapons should be discouraged.
- Euphoria: (n) a feeling of extreme happiness usually last on a short time.
The parents were in a state of euphoria after the baby was born.
- Execrable: (adj.) very bad or unpleasant.
Accusing us of being disloyal to cover his own sorry behaviour is truly execrable.
- Levity: (n) lack of seriousness.
This is no time for levity; we have important matters to discuss.
- Dynamics: (n. pi) the way in which people or things behave and react to each other in a particular situation.
He is sadly unaware of the dynamics of political change.
- Antithesis: (n) the direct opposite.
The antithesis of life is death.
- Latitude: (n)freedom to do, say, etc. what one likes.
The new law allows firms a lot less latitude than before infixing the price of their goods.
- Morose: (adj.) not willing to talk.
She was morose, pale, and reticent.
- Grievous: (adj.) very seriously harmful.
You have made a grievous mistake, which could affect the rest of your life.
- Dither: (v) to behave nervously and uncertainly because one cannot decide.
For God’s sake stop dithering and make up your mind.
- Muster: (v) to gather or collect.
I mustered (up) my courage and walked onto the stage.
- Pragmatic: (adj.) realistic.
He has a pragmatic approach to management problems.
- Hinge: (v) to depend on; have as a necessary condition.
The film’s plot hinges on a case of mistaken identity.
- Mainstream: (n) The main or most widely accepted way of thinking or acting in relation to a subject.
These days he is not in the mainstream of politics.
- Obtuse: (adj.) annoyingly slow in understanding.
Is he stupid or is he being deliberately obtuse?
- Ignominious: (adj.) bringing or deserving strong (especially public) disapproval damaging to one’s pride.
He had to suffer an ignominious defeat.
- Irrevocable: (adj.) that cannot be changed.
My decision is irrevocable.
- Motley: (adj.) of many different kinds.
There was a motley collection of books on the shelf.
- Expertise: (n) special skills or knowledge in a particular subject.
There we met some trainee engineers with varying degrees of computer expertise.
- Muster: (v) to gather or collect.
I mustered (up) my courage and walked onto the stage.
- Pernicious: (adj.) very harmful but not easily noticeable; having or being an evil influence.
These horror videos have a pernicious effect on children.
- Colossal: (adj.) extremely great or large.
It is a colossal waste of money.
- Salvage: (v) to save (goods or property) from loss or damage.
After the fire there wasn’t much furniture left worth salvaging.
- Manipulate: (v) control or influence in a clever way.
He knows how to manipulate the audience.
- Bulwark: (n) someone or something that protects or defends something such as a belief, idea, or way of life.
Our people’s support is a bulwark against the enemy.
- Moot: (v) to state (a question, matter, etc.) for consideration.
The question of changing the rules was mooted at the meeting.
- Precedence: (n) priority.
She had to learn that her wishes did not take precedence over other people’s needs.
- Gambit: (n) sacrifice of a piece for the sake of an advantage in the opening stages of a game.
His basic gambit is to give them presents before the interview.
- Enfranchise: (v) to give the right to vote at elections.
When were women enfranchised in Britain?
- Reflect (v) to think about something carefully and seriously.
He reflected for a moment and then began to speak again.
- Ascendancy: (n) a position of power, influence, or control.
He slowly gained ascendancy in the group.
- Harrowing: (adj.) causing great suffering and anxiety in the mind; distressing.
To see someone killed is a very harrowing experience.
- Loquacious: (adj.) liking to talk a lot.
I never saw a more loquacious woman than she.
- Languish: (v) to experience long suffering.
She languished in prison for fifteen years.
- Loquacious: (adj.) liking to talk a lot.
I never saw a more loquacious woman than she.
- Flounder: (v) to move about helplessly or with great difficulty, especially in water, mud, snow, etc.
The little dog was floundering around in the snow, so I picked it up.
- Menace: (n) a threat or danger.
The busy road is a menace to the children’s safety.
- Jumble: (n) a disorderly mixture of things or ideas.
His lecture was a jumble of confused ideas.
- Exegesis: (n) an explanation of a piece of writing.
This look contains a substantial exegesis of the poem ‘Waste Land’.
- Revile: (v) to express hatred of; speak very strongly and angrily.
This much reviled novel is remarkable in many ways.
- Jumble: (n) a disorderly mixture of things or ideas.
His lecture was a jumble of confused ideas.
- Harrowing: (adj.) causing great suffering and anxiety in the mind; distressing.
To see someone killed is a very harrowing experience.
- Coterie: (n) a small group of people who do things together.
He belongs to a small coterie of artists.
- Induce: (v) to lead (someone) to do something often by persuading.
Nothing could induce her to be disloyal to her husband.
- Putsch: (n) an attempt to get rid of a government by force, made by military leaders or politicians
Pakistan has a history of intrigues and putsches.
- Irrevocable: (adj.) that cannot be changed.
My decision is irrevocable.
- Dike (Dyke): (n) a wall or bank built to keep back water and prevent flooding.
The work on the new dike is in progress.
- Colossal: (adj.) extremely great or large.
It is a colossal waste of money.
- Mainstream: (n) The main or most widely accepted way of thinking or acting in relation to a subject.
These days he is not in the mainstream of politics.
- Futile: (adj.) useless; unsuccessful.
Don’t waste time by asking futile questions.
- Validate: (v) to make valid, especially legally.
In order to validate the agreement both parties signed it.
- Pernicious: (adj.) very harmful but not easily noticeable; having or being an evil influence.
These horror videos have a pernicious effect on children.
- Largesse: (n) [something given in] generosity to people who do not have enough.
Our people are in no need of richer nations largesse.
- Nuance: (n) a slight delicate difference in meaning, colour etc.
There is a nuance of greater uncertainty in “I might do it” than in “I may do it”.
- Corollary: (n) something such as a statement or course of action that naturally follows from something else.
The government wants to spend more on defence: the corollary of that statement is that they want to spend less on everything else.
- Ingratiate: (v) to gain favour by making oneself pleasant, showing admiration, etc.
He is obviously trying to ingratiate himself with the boss.
- Flounder: (v) to move about helplessly or with great difficulty, especially in water, mud, snow, etc.
The little dog was floundering around in the snow, so I picked it up.
- Bastion: (n) someone or something that is regarded as strongly defending a particular principle or activity.
The club is one of the last bastions of male chauvinism.
- Incumbent: (n) being the duty or responsibility (of someone).
It is incumbent on/upon the purchaser to check the contract before signing.
You May Also Like:
Silent Letters in Words From A to Z
Antonyms for IELTS Writing Task 1
